Improvement in bee-hives



.in the hives to PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. GRUVER, OF WEST UNION, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ABEE-HIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39.142, dated July 7, 1863.

To alltvhom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A. GRUVER, of West Union, in the county of Fayette and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Bee-House or- Bee-Palace; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 isa vertical section of my invention, taken in the line :v Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. l.

v Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

. The object of this invention is to construct a bee-house-'or bee-palace in such a manner that the hives can be removed with the greatest facility for the purpose of hiving swarms, and then readily inserted in the house or palkace, the house or palace also serving as a thorough protection for `tnebees, botn against verted pyramidal form, the part-b above a bef ing Vof rectangular form and covered by a double-pitch roof, c'. The rectangular part b of the hive has'a horizontal ledge, d, extending all around .within it, and these ledges serve as supports for the hives O C, which are inserted into the house through doors D at its end.

At each side of the upper part, b, of the house there is a flap or door, E, and these doors when down or closed cover horizontal shelves e e, on which spare-honey boxes F are placed, said boxes being at the sides of the hives and having holes f'made in them at the sideadjoiningthehives,whichholescorrespond in position' 'or register with the holes f, made aord a communication between said boxes and the hives, the communication bein-g cut oli' at any time by means of perforated slides G, inserted in dovetail grooves in the hives. These spare-honey boxes may be adjusted lto the hives and 1removed therefrom at any time when necessary 'by raising the flaps or doors E. The hives the art to fully themselves also may be removed with equal facility by opening the doors D. The beeentrances g are in one side of the lower part, a, of the bee-house, each entrance having an inclined board, g, fitted in it toaid the bees in entering and passing out of the hives. The house B is divided into two equal coin'- partments by a vertical central partition, It. Each hive thereforefit will be seen, is fitted within a compartment of itsv own, there being no communication between them. The lower end of the part a' of the house B has an opening in it, which is covered by a iap, H, which may be lowered or opened at anytime to admit of dirt and filth escapingfrom the hives.

' The inverted pyramidal form of a causes the dirt and filth to readily escape from the hives and house. On the top of eachhive there is also a spare-honey box, I, andthese boxes are -provi ded with openings which lregister with openings j in the top-of the hives a, perforated slide la being in the top of each hive to cut oft" the communication whenv necessary. These boxes doors D. v v

The framing A may be constructed in any proper manner-t0 support the house' B, and the roof e may be of shingles. The bottoms of the hives U' C are open, and each hive is provided with a door, l, to render the honeycom bs accessible.

The whole arrangement is extremely simple and eicient, may be constructed at a moderate cost, and the hives and spare-honey boxes 'may be removed and replaced and manipulated generally as required in bee-culture without annoying the bees.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to securev by Letters Patent, is-. y

A bee-house or beepalacenprovided at its sides with horizontal shelves e e and -aps or doors E, to receive. the sparehoney boxes I, and also provided with horizontal internal ledges, d, to support the hiyes, azdoor, D, at

each end, and an invertedv pyramidal lower.

part, a, wit-h a flap, H, the house or palace being supported by a suitable framing, A, all, constructed and arranged as and for the purpose set forth.

y JOHN A. GRUVER. Witnesses:

GEO. L. N oBLE, P. F. CRANE.

I are removed by opening the4 

